Donga-Mantung: Suspected Amba fighters shoot divisional delegate to death!.

He was said to be travelling back to his base in Nkambe, when gunmen opened fire around Ntabah Hill and killed him.

According to information gathered from multiple sources, Fonye was shot multiple times. He is said to have attempted to escape after suspected separatist fighters stopped a vehicle in which he was. 

In the process, the gunmen are said to have rained bullets on the delegate. It is not clear if he was targeted, but eyewitness reports hold that Fonye was scared, given his position as Divisional Delegate, when the gunmen stopped the car. In an attempt to escape for his life, he was shot from behind, accounts hold.

The Guardian Post learned that the incident left several other travelers, who were onboard the same vehicle with the Divisional Delegate in fear. 

At the time of this report, no authority had commented on the macabre incident. 

Meanwhile, no Amba group has claimed responsibility for the incident.

Ntabah Hill, which leads to Ndu, is one of the most dangerous sites, where Amba fighters are said to be emerging from the wild to do illegal controls.

Several attacks, kidnappings and killings are reported to have taken place at the same spot. 

The shooting to death of the Divisional Delegate comes just a few weeks after the Mayor of Belo Council, Dr Ngong Innocent and the Inspector of Basic Education for Belo, Dr Aghi Aaron, were brutally murdered on May 20 under unclear circumstances.

The killing of the government official comes at a time when the spate of insecurity across the North West Region that had died down, is witnessing pockets of resurgence.

In Bamenda, an Improvised Explosive Device, IED, which authorities attributed to separatist fighters, killed two persons and injured over 29, May 25, 2024.

The incident caused the SDO of Mezam to place a ban on the circulation of motor bikes in Bamenda, from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. 

Before the Bamenda explosion, another suspected separatist attack in Bambui, had claimed the lives of four persons, among them security officers.

Meanwhile, it should be noted that this weekend’s killing of Fonye is among the most deadly incidents Donga Mantung has recorded since the start of the armed conflict in the English-speaking Regions, outside the Ngarbuh massacre of February 14, 2020.

Authorities have been battling to restore complete order, especially in the Divisional headquarters of Nkambe, following the detonation of an explosive on February 11 this year. 

The incident, which happened during the Youth Day march past around the Nkambe Grandstand, claimed the life of a student and wounded several others. Some of the victims are said to still be responding to treatment at the Bamenda Regional Hospital. 

This story first published in The Guardian Post issue No3130 of Monday June 02, 2024